In Vitro Brasil (IVB) is working with the Brazilian government and its partners to help small farmers in arid regions increase productivity from their herds.
The programme enables these farmers to benefit from high-quality male and female genetics, through an embryo, implanted into their existing females (which are not of such high genetic merit). The programme has already helped more than 2,000 families and the first animals born from embryos are now calving and producing milk. These heifers are producing an average of 15-25 litres of milk per day: three to four times the quantity that farmers have been gaining from other cows within their herds.